Method and system for controlling a scheduling order

ABSTRACT

A scheduling order can be designated for the broadcast and playback of multimedia content (e.g., music, news, other audio, advertising, etc) with respect to slots within the scheduling order. The broadcast day is divided into dayparts having blocks of time and including multiple time slots. One of those time slots, a transition period, is adjacent to another daypart. The transition period may be scheduled using a different algorithm for adjacency scheduling to satisfy both horizontal and vertical adjacency requirements. The remaining slots for the schedule can be scheduled from one or more categories of media items associated with the block being scheduled.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present U.S. Utility Patent Application claims priority pursuant to35 U.S.C. §120 as a continuation of U.S. Utility application Ser. No.13/940,877, entitled METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING A SCHEDULINGORDER,” filed Jul. 12, 2013, which is a continuation of U.S. Utilityapplication Ser. No. 12/914,000, entitled METHOD AND SYSTEM FORCONTROLLING A SCHEDULING ORDER PER DAYPART CATEGORY IN A MUSICSCHEDULING SYSTEM, filed Oct. 28, 2010, issued as U.S. Pat. No.8,490,099 on Jul. 16, 2013, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S.Utility application Ser. No. 12/856,952, entitled METHOD AND SYSTEM FORCONTROLLING A SCHEDULING ORDER PER CATEGORY IN A MUSIC SCHEDULINGSYSTEM, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,418,182 on Apr. 9, 2013, all of whichare hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety and madepart of the present U.S. Utility Patent Application for all purposes.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments are generally related to the scheduling of the delivery andairplay of multimedia content. Embodiments are additionally related toairplay of audio, including music, over radio stations and networks ofradio stations. Embodiments further relate to a slotted-by-daypartmultimedia scheduling technique.

BACKGROUND

Most radio stations employ a music director to select and schedule musicand other multimedia programming for airplay. A typical music directoris responsible for interacting with record company reps, auditioning newmusic, and making decisions (sometimes in conjunction with a programdirector) as to which songs get airplay, how much and when. At mostradio stations today, the music director devises rotations for songs andprograms the daily music through specialized music software made justfor this purpose.

Music directors often have difficulty in evenly programming dailyrotations to prevent repeat multimedia plays. If the music directorfails to account for the content of programming in different day partsof a programming day, the listener could be exposed to repeatedprogramming. Music directors often hand-place songs to try and preventthese clashes between day parts. It is difficult, however, for a musicdirector to adjust program content in a way that will preventprogramming clashes later in the day yet still maintain good rotation ofthe content within a day part. Only as the music director approaches theupcoming day parts would the director see the programming clashes.Having to re-program much of the day's content to correct the clashingrotations is inefficient.

Therefore, a need exists to provide a station's music director with anefficient system and method for scheduling a multimedia's programmingday depending on song selection and good horizontal and verticalrotation during different dayparts. A dynamic music scheduling systemcan be provided for automatic adjustments in playlists or guidance for astation's music director for manual music placement.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The following summary is provided to facilitate an understanding of someof the innovative features unique to the disclosed embodiments and isnot intended to be a full description. A full appreciation of thevarious aspects of the embodiments disclosed herein can be gained bytaking the entire specification, claims, drawings, and abstract as awhole.

It is, therefore, one aspect of the disclosed embodiments to provide foran, improved scheduling method and/or apparatus for use in the contextof radio stations and networks of radio stations.

It is another aspect of the disclosed embodiments to provide for amethod and/or apparatus for controlling the scheduling of multimediacontent such as audio and music for airplay per category.

It is yet another aspect of the disclosed embodiments to provide for amethod and/or apparatus for dynamic multimedia scheduling to preventrepeated multimedia airplay in consecutive timeslots.

The aforementioned aspects and other objectives and advantages can nowbe achieved as described herein. An apparatus and method for amultimedia schedule for broadcast, which includes selecting themultimedia schedule for the broadcast via a user interface, anddetermining whether a slot from a plurality of slots of a daypart for aday is a transition period of the daypart. When the slot to be scheduledis the transition period of the daypart, horizontal and verticaladjacency requirements are addressed.

In an aspect of the embodiment, horizontal adjacency requirements aresatisfied for the transition period by modifying the multimedia schedulewith a multimedia content such that the multimedia content is not alsoscheduled in an adjacent slot of the day relative to the transitionperiod of the daypart.

In another aspect of the embodiment, vertical adjacency requirements aresatisfied for the transition period by modifying the multimedia schedulewith the multimedia content such that the multimedia content is not alsoscheduled during a same daypart across an adjacent day that is relativeto the day.

The apparatus and method are operable to produce a modified multimediaschedule for the broadcast, and display the modified multimedia schedulefor the broadcast.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying figures, in which like reference numerals refer toidentical or functionally-similar elements throughout the separate viewsand which are incorporated in and form a part of the specification,further illustrate the present embodiments, and, together with thedetailed description, serve to explain the principles herein.

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic view of a data-processing system in whichthe disclosed embodiments may be implemented;

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic view of a software system including anoperating system, application software, and a user interface forcarrying out the disclosed embodiments;

FIG. 3 illustrates a flow chart of operations depicting logicaloperational steps of a method for defining the slotted-by-daypartcategories in a slotted-by-daypart multimedia schedule, in accordancewith the disclosed embodiments;

FIG. 4 a illustrates an example of a graphically displayed table for aslotted-by-daypart scheduling technique, in accordance with thedisclosed embodiments;

FIG. 4 b illustrates an example of a graphically displayed table for aslotted-by-daypart scheduling technique, in accordance with thedisclosed embodiments;

FIG. 4 c illustrates an example of a graphically displayed table for aslotted-by-daypart scheduling technique, in accordance with thedisclosed embodiments;

FIG. 4 d illustrates an example of a graphically displayed table for aslotted-by-daypart scheduling technique, in accordance with thedisclosed embodiments; and

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow chart of operations depicting logicaloperational steps of a method for defining categories and plotting aslotted-by-daypart multimedia schedule, in accordance with the disclosedembodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The particular values and configurations discussed in these non-limitingexamples can be varied and are cited merely to illustrate at least oneembodiment and are not intended to limit the scope thereof.

The following discussion is intended to provide a brief, generaldescription of suitable computing environments in which the system andmethod may be implemented. Although not required, the disclosedembodiments are generally described in the general context ofcomputer-executable instructions such as, for example, one or moreprogram modules, which can be executed by a processor, computer, or agroup of interconnected computers.

Also, dayparts of a multimedia schedule may be scheduled inchronological order within a broadcast day. When scheduling dayparts ina forward chronological order, dayparts occurring earlier in saidbroadcast day are scheduled first, followed by scheduling consecutivelylater dayparts. Conversely, when scheduling dayparts in a reversechronological order, dayparts occurring later in said broadcast day arescheduled first, followed by scheduling consecutively earlier dayparts.

As noted above, the embodiments provided herein can be understood, in ageneral sense, to schedule multimedia content such that multimediacontent is not scheduled adjacent to itself in a broadcast day andmultimedia content is not scheduled in the same daypart time slot inadjacent broadcast days.

FIGS. 1 and 2 are provided as exemplary diagrams of a data processingenvironment in which embodiments may be implemented. It should beappreciated that FIGS. 1-2 are only exemplary and are not intended toassert or imply any limitation with regard to the environments in whichaspects or embodiments may be implemented. Many modifications to thedepicted environments may be made without departing from the spirit andscope of the present invention.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the disclosed embodiments may be implementedin the context of a data-processing system 100, which can be configuredto include, for example, a central processor 101, a main memory 102, aninput/output controller 103, a keyboard 104, a pointing device 105(e.g., mouse, track ball, pen device, or the like), a display device106, and a mass storage 107 (e.g., hard disk). Additional input/outputcomponents, such as a hardware interface 108, for example, may beelectronically connected to the data-processing system 100 as desired.Note that such hardware interface 108 may constitute, for example, a USB(Universal Serial Bus) that allows other devices such as printers, faxmachines, scanners, copiers, and so on, to communicate with thedata-processing system 100.

Note that, as illustrated, the various components of the data-processingsystem 100 communicate through a system bus 110 or similar architecture.It can be appreciated that the data-processing system 100 may, in someembodiments, be implemented as a mobile computing device such as aSmartphone, laptop computer, Apple® iPhone®, etc. In other embodiments,the data-processing system 100 may function as a desktop computer,server, and the like, depending upon design considerations.

FIG. 2 illustrates a computer software system 200 for directing theoperation of the data-processing system 100 depicted in FIG. 1. Softwareapplication 152, stored in main memory 102 and on mass storage 107,includes a kernel or operating system 151 and a shell or interface 153.One or more application programs, such as software application 152, maybe “loaded” (i.e. transferred from mass storage 107 into the main memory102) for execution by the data-processing system 100. Thedata-processing system 100 receives user commands and data through userinterface 153; these inputs may then be acted upon by thedata-processing system 100 in accordance with instructions fromoperating system 151 and/or application 152.

Note that the term module as utilized herein may refer to a collectionof routines and data structures that perform a particular task orimplement a particular abstract data type. Modules may be composed oftwo parts: an interface, which lists the constants, data types,variable, and routines that can be accessed by other modules orroutines, and an implementation, which is typically private (accessibleonly to that module) and includes a source code that actually implementsthe routines in the module. The term module may also simply refer to anapplication such as a computer program design to assist in theperformance of a specific task such as word processing, accounting,inventory management, music program scheduling, etc.

Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects,components, data structures, etc., that perform particular tasks orimplement particular abstract data types. Moreover, those skilled in theart will appreciate that the disclosed method and system may bepracticed with other computer system configurations such as, forexample, hand-held devices, multi-processor systems,microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, networkedPCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like.

The interface 153, which is preferably a graphical user interface (GUI),also serves to display results, whereupon the user may supply additionalinputs or terminate the session. In an embodiment, operating system 151and interface 153 can be implemented in the context of a “Windows”system. It can be appreciated, of course, that other types of systemsare possible. For example, rather than a traditional “Windows” system,other operation systems such as, for example, Linux may also be employedwith respect to operating system 151 and interface 153. The softwareapplication 152 can include a scheduling module 155 that can be adaptedto control scheduling with respect to the delivery and airplay ofmultimedia content, as described in greater detail herein. The softwareapplication 152 can also be configured to communicate with the interface153 and various components and other modules and features as describedherein. The module 155, in particular, can implement instructions forcarrying out, for example, the method 300 depicted in FIG. 3 and/oradditional operations as described herein.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flow chart of operations depicting logicaloperational steps of a method 300 for defining the slotted-by-daypartcategories when controlling a scheduling order per daypart category, inaccordance with the disclosed embodiments. The method 300 offers theability to dynamically schedule multimedia for a programming day and setsuch a scheduling order as a slotted-by-daypart category. The dynamicmusic scheduling method can provide for automatic adjustments inplaylists or guidance for a station's music director for manual musicplacement.

As illustrated at block 301, the process for controlling a schedulingorder per daypart category can be initiated. Next, as illustrated atblock 302, an operation can be processed to select multimedia forbroadcast. Thereafter, category membership for multimedia in dayparts isassigned, as illustrated at block 303. As illustrated in block 304,categories to be scheduled using the disclosed slotted-by-daypartscheduling technique are specified. Thereafter, as illustrated in block305, the multimedia order for slotted-by-daypart categories isspecified. Next, the simulated plot of multimedia in categories forspecific dayparts is reviewed, as illustrated in block 306. The selectedand plotted multimedia is then broadcasted accordingly throughout theprogramming day, as depicted in block 307. The process then terminates,as illustrated in block 308.

As indicated above, the method 300 for controlling a scheduling orderper daypart category can be implemented in the context of a module orgroup of modules. Such modules include computer implementableinstructions for performing instructions including the individualoperational steps indicated in the various blocks depicted in FIG. 3.Note that various software applications and implementations may beconfigured to provide one or more of the instructions illustrated inFIG. 3. One possibility involves configuring a database and associatedmodules to designate such scheduling control.

Other potential design aspects include modifying the daypart order byexposing the “Slotted-by-daypart” property in a scheduling order dialog.Note that as utilized herein the term “dialog” refers to a “dialog box,”which is a special feature or window utilized in the context of a GUI(Graphical User Interface) such as, for example, the interface 153 ofFIG. 2, to display information to a user, or to obtain a response, ifrequired. A “dialog” refers to a dialog between a data-processing systemsuch as that described herein with respect to FIGS. 1-2 and the user.The data-processing system informs the user of something, requests inputfrom the user, or both. Such a dialog or dialog box provides controlsthat allow a user to specify how to carry out a particular action.

FIG. 4 a illustrates an example of a graphically displayed table for aslotted-by-daypart scheduling technique 400, in accordance with thedisclosed embodiments. A. broadcast day consists of twenty-fourcontiguous hours, normally beginning at midnight, but can conceivablybegin at any arbitrary hour of the day. The broadcast day can belogically divided into segments, known as dayparts. A daypart is a blockof consecutive hours, ranging in length from one hour up to twenty-fourhours. For example, dayparts are typically four or five hours long 401.The broadcast day will consist of approximately, for example, fivedifferent dayparts, but any number and combination of daypart sizes areallowed 401, 402, as long as the broadcast day is filled with scheduledmultimedia. It is understood that any number of dayparts with varyinglength can be assigned throughout a programming day.

Multimedia entities such as songs, for example, are assigned tocategories to enable the songs to be scheduled. Within any broadcastday, songs will be scheduled according to pre-determined categorypositions during the broadcast day. At any position in the scheduledesignated for a specific category, only songs assigned to thatparticular category can be scheduled. Multiple categories may bescheduled in any daypart.

The relationship between categories and dayparts is a virtual onederived from the hour of the day associated with schedule positions fora particular category and the time period that a daypart occupies.Multiple categories can be scheduled in each hour, enabling virtualrelationships to be established between a daypart and each of thosecategories. Dayparts are scheduled in chronological order. Schedulepositions within each daypart are scheduled according to the ReverseScheduling rules established for each category/daypart pairing. Forexample, in any category, dayparts in which the category is scheduled ina forward manner will be scheduled first in an earliest to latestposition order. Dayparts in which the category is reverse scheduled willbe scheduled last in a latest to earliest position order.

Categories are also scheduled according to pass order, wherein thelowest pass order is considered first, and each category is assigned apass order. Songs may be re-assigned to alternate categories in anydaypart. Consequently, when scheduling positions for dayparts in whichsongs have been assigned to alternate categories, the scheduler can havean alternate set of songs from which to select. In any daypart, the setof available songs may be larger or smaller than the original categoryassignment when additional songs are assigned to the original category.Conversely, the additional songs that would normally be in this categorycould be assigned to an alternate category in this daypart. In anydaypart, a particular song may only be assigned to a single daypart. Inpractice, this process can be described with the following example.

FIG. 4 b further illustrates an example of a graphically displayed tablefor a slotted-by-daypart scheduling technique 400, in accordance withthe disclosed embodiments. Category A 405 has five songs assigned in thedaypart 10A-2P 403 which occupies the 10 am thru 2 pm hours, and daypart3P-5P 404 which occupies the 3 pm thru 5 pm hours. The schedule requiresthat a single Category A 405 song be scheduled in each of the hoursbetween 10 am and 2 pm, inclusively. During the 3P-5P daypart 404, thereare no alternate categories assigned, thus allowing all of the 5 songsin Category A 405 to be considered. During the 10A-2P daypart 403,however, 3 of the 5 songs normally assigned to Category A 405 have beenre-assigned to a different category, resulting in only 2 songs remainingin Category A 405 during the 10A-2P daypart 403. This smaller set ofsongs assigned to Category A 405 in the 10A-2P daypart 403 will have ahigher rotation than the larger set of songs assigned to Category A 405in the 3P-5P daypart 404. Songs are represented as 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5,hence song 1 plays in every alternate hour of the 10A-2P daypart 403 andalso in every 5th hour of the 3P-5P daypart 404.

To provide a way to allow songs to be scheduled evenly, categories mayalso be designated as ‘slotted-by-daypart.’ This indicates that thescheduling algorithm will employ a method whereby available songs willbe selected in strict rotation. Once the rotation is established, itwill remain the same until altered by the user, thus forcing an even,predictable distribution of the available songs during any givendaypart. This scheduling algorithm is typically employed to schedulehigh turnover songs (i.e. categories containing few songs) where a fixedrotation is desirable.

The horizontal rotation of songs assigned to Category A 405 in any givendaypart must also be protected against a play of the same song in thesame hour in the previous day's daypart. A play of a song in the samehour of adjacent days is deemed vertical rotation. Hence, an evenvertical rotation of songs is also desirable. The strict rotation ofCategory A 405 songs in any given daypart ensures both a horizontal(i.e. within daypart) and vertical (i.e. across days) rotation, wherebyno song plays adjacent to itself within a day or in the same hour inadjacent days. Good horizontal and vertical rotation can be achieved byseeding the first Category A 405 position in any daypart, known as thetransition period, with a song, which satisfies both horizontal andvertical adjacency requirements.

FIG. 4 b further illustrates both the horizontal and vertical rotations,with two songs available in the 10A-2P daypart 403 and five songsavailable in the 3P-5P daypart 404. The transition period of the 3P-5Pdaypart falls in the 3P hour 407. Because the Slotted-by-Daypartscheduling technique works by selecting songs via a simple rotation,whereby filling a schedule position for a particular category isachieved by selecting the next available song assigned to that categoryin a given daypart, it is possible to create undesirable conditions. Forexample, when a song is scheduled in one particular daypart, it may bescheduled adjacent to the same song in an adjacent daypart, as shown inthe 2P/3P 406, 407 transition on Monday 408 and Tuesday 409 in FIG. 4 b.

To prevent this adjacency conflict 410, the song selected to fill thetransition period for a given category in any daypart is achieved usinga different scheduling algorithm to fill the other Category A 405positions in any given daypart. In this transition period, the songs areordered in a “next due in hour” manner. Songs which have never playedduring this transition period in previous days, or played furthest inthe past during this hour in previous days, will be considered first forscheduling. To avoid any song adjacency conflicts with previouslyscheduled dayparts in which the song may have been previously scheduled,it is possible to reject the intended song in favor of the nextavailable in the order. The ordered songs will be considered in turnuntil a song without adjacency conflicts is found. On subsequent days,the list will be re-ordered in a next due fashion again to ensure songsreceive their share of plays in a “particular vertical rotation”.

The adjacency conflict of songs 1 and 2 on Monday 408 and Tuesday 409 isresolved 415 by selecting the next due song in 3P 407 that has noadjacency conflict. As illustrated in FIG. 4 c, resolving 415 thisconflict creates another adjacency conflict 411 of songs 1 and 2 in the2P/3P transition on Saturday 412 and Sunday 413.

As illustrated in FIG. 4 d, the adjacency conflict on Saturday 412 andSunday 413 is resolved 414 by selecting the next due song in 3P whichhas no adjacency conflict. The net result of the protection given to thetransition period in 3P is that the vertical scheduling order will notalways be the same as the horizontal scheduling order. Horizontalrotations are always optimal in a single broadcast day, as well as overmultiple days, because of the disclosed embodiment's continued attemptsto schedule the next due song in the transition hour. Therefore, theoverall rotations of songs in this hour will even out. Multiplecategories can also be scheduled in this manner. Each category will haveits own transition period in the 3P hour, at which vertical andhorizontal rotations are protected against adjacent song plays.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow chart of operations depicting logicaloperational steps of a method 500 for defining categories and plotting aslotted-by-daypart multimedia schedule, in accordance with the disclosedembodiments. As illustrated at block 501, the process for schedulingmultimedia using a slotted-by-daypart scheduling technique can beinitiated. Next, as illustrated at block 502, an operation can beprocessed to determine if there is a pass order remaining to bescheduled. If no pass order remains, then the operation ends asillustrated at block 512. Otherwise, the categories designated for thepass order are selected, as illustrated at block 503. Next, asillustrated at block 504, an operation can be processed to determine ifall categories on the pass order have been scheduled. If anothercategory remains, then an operation can be processed to select daypartsin forward and reverse order for the schedule range, as illustrated atblock 505. If no other categories remain for the pass, then thescheduling operation skips to block 506, where an operation can beprocessed to determine if another daypart still needs to be scheduled.

If another day part needs to be scheduled, then an operation can beprocessed to select the next unscheduled position in the daypart for thecategory, as illustrated at block 507. If there are no daypartsremaining to be scheduled, then the scheduling operation skips to block508, where an operation can be processed to determine the nextunscheduled position in the daypart. It is then determined whether -thenext unscheduled position is a transition position that affects therotation, as illustrated at block 509. If it is a transition position,then an operation can be processed to select the next due song withproper vertical and horizontal protection, as illustrated at block 511.If the transition position does not affect the rotation, then anoperation can be processed to select the next due song in auser-specified order, as illustrated at block 510. The process thenterminates as illustrated at block 512.

It will be appreciated that variations of the above-disclosed and otherfeatures and functions, or alternatives thereof, can be desirablycombined into many other different systems or applications. Furthermore,various presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives,modifications, variations or improvements therein may be subsequentlymade by those skilled in the art which are also intended to beencompassed by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method executable by a mobile computing devicefor populating a multimedia schedule for broadcast, the methodcomprising: selecting, via a user interface of the mobile computingdevice, a plurality of multimedia content corresponding to at least onemultimedia category; scheduling a first daypart and an adjacent seconddaypart of a plurality of dayparts associated with a first day with theplurality of multimedia content using a first scheduling algorithm,wherein the first daypart and the second daypart having respective firstand second transition periods adjacent to one another; scheduling athird daypart and an adjacent fourth daypart of a second plurality ofdayparts associated with a second day being adjacent the first day withthe plurality of multimedia content using a second scheduling algorithm,wherein the third daypart and the fourth daypart having respective thirdand fourth transition periods adjacent to one another; and schedulingthe first, second, third and fourth transition periods using a thirdscheduling algorithm being different from the first and the secondscheduling algorithms, the third scheduling algorithm to satisfy bothhorizontal and vertical adjacency requirements, wherein the horizontaladjacency requirements including a requirement that a multimedia contentof the plurality of multimedia content is not also scheduled in adjacenttransition periods of adjacent dayparts, and the vertical adjacencyrequirements including a requirement that the multimedia content of theplurality of multimedia content is not also scheduled during anequivalent transition period of the second day.
 2. The method of claim1, wherein: the first and the second scheduling algorithms includingrules to schedule the plurality of multimedia content in a forwardmanner.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein: the first and the secondscheduling algorithms including rules to schedule the plurality ofmultimedia content in a reverse manner.
 4. The method of claim 1,wherein: the first scheduling algorithms including rules to schedule theplurality of multimedia content in a forward manner; and the secondscheduling algorithms including rules to schedule the plurality ofmultimedia content in a reverse manner.
 5. The method of claim 1,wherein: the first and the third dayparts have a first block of time;and the second and the fourth dayparts have a second block of time. 6.The method of claim 5, wherein: the first block of time is differentfrom the second block of time.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein thethird scheduling algorithm further comprising: selecting the pluralityof multimedia content for inclusion in a first, second, third or fourthtransition period by determining how long it has been since theplurality of multimedia contents have been previously scheduled forinclusion in a corresponding schedule slot.
 8. The method of claim 1,further comprising: assigning the first daypart to a plurality ofmultimedia content categories; and wherein the first schedulingalgorithm includes scheduling the first daypart using a horizontalrotation that selects a next available multimedia content from the atleast one multimedia category.
 9. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: assigning the first daypart to a plurality of multimediacontent categories; and wherein at least the first scheduling algorithmincludes: selecting one of the multimedia content categories of theplurality of multimedia categories according to pass order; andscheduling a schedule slot to include a multimedia content selected fromthe at least one multimedia category.
 10. The method of claim 1, whereinthe mobile computing device comprising at least one of: a smartphone;and a laptop computer.
 11. A method executable by a mobile computingdevice for modifying a multimedia schedule for broadcast, the methodcomprising: selecting the multimedia schedule for the broadcast via agraphic user interface; determining whether a slot from a plurality ofslots of a daypart for a day is a transition period of the daypart; andwhen the slot to be scheduled is the transition period of the daypart:satisfying horizontal adjacency requirements for the transition periodby modifying the multimedia schedule with a multimedia content such thatthe multimedia content is not also scheduled in an adjacent slot of theday relative to the transition period of the daypart; and satisfyingvertical adjacency requirements for the transition period by modifyingthe multimedia schedule with the multimedia content such that themultimedia content is not also scheduled during a same daypart across anadjacent day that is relative to the day; producing a modifiedmultimedia schedule for the broadcast; and displaying the modifiedmultimedia schedule for the broadcast.
 12. The method of claim 11,further comprising: when the slot to be scheduled is not a transitionperiod for the daypart, selecting a next-due multimedia content from acategory of multimedia content.
 13. The method of claim 11, furthercomprising: assigning a plurality of categories of multimedia contentsto the daypart, wherein the selecting the multimedia content includesselecting a multimedia content from one of the plurality of categoriesof the plurality of multimedia content; and wherein any particularmultimedia content is included in only a single category of multimediacontent within the daypart.
 14. The method of claim 13, furthercomprising: assigning the multimedia content to a first category forscheduling the daypart; and assigning the same multimedia content to adifferent category for scheduling another daypart.
 15. A mobilecomputing device comprising: a processor; memory operably associatedwith the processor; a graphic user interface operably associated withthe processor and the memory; and a program of instructions configuredto be stored in the memory and executed by the processor, the program ofinstructions including: selecting, via the graphic user interface, aslot to be scheduled from a plurality of slots of a daypart for a day;determining whether the slot to be scheduled is a transition period ofthe daypart; and when the slot to be scheduled is the transition periodof the daypart: scheduling a multimedia content for the transitionperiod to satisfy horizontal adjacency requirements for the transitionperiod such that the multimedia content is not also scheduled inadjacent slots of the day relative to the transition period of thedaypart; and scheduling the multimedia content for the transition periodto also satisfy vertical adjacency requirements for the transitionperiod such that the multimedia content is not also scheduled during asame daypart across an adjacent day relative to the day.
 16. The mobilecomputing device of claim 15, wherein the program of instructions toschedule the multimedia content for the transition period furthercomprising: select the multimedia contents for inclusion in thetransition period when the multimedia content scheduled for inclusion ina corresponding schedule slot on a non-adjacent day relative to the day.17. The mobile computing device of claim 15, wherein the program ofinstructions to schedule the multimedia content for the transitionperiod further comprising: select multimedia content for inclusion inthe transition period by determining how long it has been since themultimedia content has been previously scheduled for inclusion in acorresponding daypart on a non-adjacent different day relative to theday.
 18. The mobile computing device of claim 15, wherein the program ofinstructions further comprising: assigning a predetermined number ofmultimedia content categories to the daypart; and scheduling the daypartof the day by a horizontal rotation that selects a next availablemultimedia content from the predetermined number of multimedia contentcategories.
 19. The mobile computing device of claim 15, wherein theprogram of instructions further comprising: assigning a plurality ofmultimedia content categories to the daypart; and wherein the schedulingincludes: selecting one of the plurality of multimedia categoriesaccording to pass order; and scheduling a schedule slot to include amultimedia content selected from the one of the plurality of multimediacategories.
 20. The mobile computing device of claim 15 comprising atleast one of: a smartphone; and a laptop computer.